Culture clashes

Agitated Iraqi Guy is starting to seriously work my last nerve. He's openly disdainful towards women, in spite of the fact that he's a minority in a roomful of earnest, hardworking females. You would think he'd have the sense to keep his mouth shut. But instead he continues to make snide comments and at some points is even disrespectful to the teacher. It's unbelievable!

The topic of today's rant was that modern mothers complain too much-- they say they are busy when in reality they are just lazy. Look at their grandmothers-- they were at least busy washing clothes by hand and baking their own bread. Contemporary women choose to sit on their laurels, let the street raise their children and complain about their ill fortunes. (And he's serious when he says these things!)

Normally I just let him talk and don't rise to his bait, but it just so happens that I was still doing laundry and scrubbing our toilets at 10pm last night because it was my first real opportunity to do so.

I tried to present a logical argument in which I said that, yes, our grandmothers spent more time on household chores, but that left less time over for raising their children. Much of the time modern mothers now save on household chores we spend on stimulating our children and overseeing their development. The world has become more complicated and so has the task of shaping our children's characters. We talk to them more, are more involved with their schoolwork.

To which he responded with more generalizations and flippant remarks. Unfortunately the angrier I got the less articulate I became. Which means he quit listening to me about 30 seconds into it. (If he was listening at all in the first place-- I am, after all, lower than a donkey according to his reference point.)

I suppose I'm learning a lot about life (and ignorance) through my interaction with him but have to admit I will not be sorry to see him go when we finish this module...